Ewen Fields
Ewen Fields is a multi-use stadium in Tameside, England. It is the home ground of Hyde F.C. and Manchester City Reserves and has also in the past hosted Manchester United F.C. Reserves, Stockport County Reserves and Oldham Curzon Ladies. It is currently used for football. The stadium formerly used Baspograss, and held the last non-qualifying FA Cup game on an artificial surface when Hyde faced Darlington in the 1st Round Proper in 1994. It has also hosted American Football, namely the Manchester Spartans in the 1980s during a surge in popularity of Gridiron in the UK following Channel 4's coverage of live NFL overnight when the channel first began. A Rugby League Super League game between Oldham and Sheffield was staged at the stadium in 1997. The stadium holds 4,073 people. Today Ewen Fields is made up of 5 stands: the Main Stand, the Scrattin Shed, the Tinker's Passage end, the Leigh Street stand and the Walker Lane end. All of the stands are covered. The Main Stand is the only seated stand at Ewen Fields. It also houses the players' dressing rooms, board room and sponsors lounge as well as a refreshments bar and toilets. Next to the Main Stand is the Scrattin' Shed, although it is more commonly known as the 'Shed End', despite not actually being at the end of the ground. This is where the most vociferous home fans usually congregate. The Social Club is behind the Shed, and traverses the boundary wall. There is a door inside the ground, and one in the car park. The Tinker's Passage end (named after the footpath which runs behind the stand) is situated behind the goal nearest to the Scrattin' Shed. Unusually, the stand runs at an acute angle to the goal line. This is because the pitch prior to the Astroturf was not a perfect rectangle, and the stand, which used to be parallel to the goal line, shows the extent of this previous irregularity. Away fans are housed in the Tinker's Passage end on the rare occasions that games at Ewen Fields are segregated. Running opposite to the Main Stand and Scrattin' Shed is the Leigh Street stand, behind the home and away dugouts where another set of vocal home fans stand. A second refreshments bar is also situated on this side. The Walker Lane end (sometimes referred to as the 'Baths End' due to the leisure centre situated behind the stand) is situated behind the goal at the opposite end to the Tinker's Passage end. When the Astroturf was laid, and the pitch realigned, it was also lengthened at this end. As a result, the Walker Lane stand was built afterwards, and is parallel to the goal line. In 2010 Hyde United changed their name to Hyde F.C. and had a kit change back to the original colours which were black and white. This meant that Ewen Fields would have a make over in summer 2010, which would be funded by Manchester City as part of the clubs partnership, which is in contract from 2010 until 2013. External links *Details about Ewen Fields *Ewen Fields Review Category:Hyde F.C. Category:Stadiums Category:English stadiums